Sunday, April 6, 2014

Learning to Work Smart

March 3, 2014

Karee and her new companion, Sis Garcia at the Boston temple

This week has been a bit abnormal. Last Monday when we were playing
soccer, Elder Rivera twisted his ankle pretty bad. So we have had to
make a few adjustments to our schedules to make sure he isn't walking
too much. We also had zone conference on Thursday in North Brookfield,
which through us off a bit (we had to get the car cleaned, plan a day
earlier, and had a whole day without work).

I
am not sure I have ever done so much planning and organizing in my
life. It seems as though when you are brand new in an area you have to
really take the time to get organized so that you can work smart, or you
will find that nothing that you do is worth it. So we have been going
to city halls to get maps of the areas

Thursday
at the Zone Conference, there was a Stake President who spoke about
visions or plans for the area. He was so inspired because I have been
praying for the past few days, maybe even weeks, that I could understand
how better to work in the area and better receive inspiration to guide
the area. But what I really needed to be doing is getting the big
picture from the leaders. Mostly I was just grateful that Heavenly
Father had inspired someone in answer to my prayers.

We
won the prize for the cleanest car... which I am sure had something to
do with our ride through the car wash. We did some work too, vacuumed
the inside and cleaned the tires and rims.

I think that one of the
things I have learned about being a missionary, is that things hardly
go as planned. That you have to plan and make sure things are set up,
but then expect and welcome delays or interruptions. There is nothing
wrong with them, and they are usually an opportunity to meet someone new
or keep us safe from something that could have happened. This week we
had the opportunity to ride the train and bus systems. One night we took
a bus going the wrong way and didn't find out until we made it to the
end of the line. Then we were stuck in the cold at the station for 30
minutes until the next bus came. That had to be the longest bus ride of
my life. Followed by a long cold walk home. We might have gotten home
late that night. Saturday we got stuck in some heavy traffic and ended
up being almost two hours late to an appointment. The other part of
that of course is making sure the people on the other line are aware and
expecting delays as well.

There
was a women's conference yesterday, and Susan Jones gave a great talk
about covenant keeping. It made me think a lot about why covenants are
so important and why we need to remember what we have covenanted. I am
going to be studying the baptismal covenant this week. This morning we
were reading together in Alma 34 about faith and repentance, when we got
to the end verses 40-41 are talking about enduring to the end and
remembering the covenants that we have made. It is really important to
remember the covenants that we have made. Heavenly Father will always
keep His end of the promise and it is up to us to keep ours.